Whether it’s live or a film performance, something unanticipated can occur. So what do you do when the unexpected happens and something goes wrong?
Joanne will never forget performing the play “Picnic” in New York. One night, the set—which was comprised of a roof and walls to suggest a house—fell down all around her in the middle of the performance.
Everyone was shocked when a fast-thinking actor spoke up and, still in character, declared, “I knew we needed to get that roof fixed!” The entire audience responded with a laugh of appreciation and recognition. That night, a friend in the audience told Joanne that the set collapsing was quite fortuitous. The event brought a sense of spontaneity and freshness to something that had been executed a bit anticipated and by-the-numbers.
He said that the event “woke up” the actors and that they carried on for the rest of the play with an attentiveness and life in tune with the possibility that anything could happen. The audience was with the actors more than ever; turning something that could’ve thrown off an entire performance into something positive, and even made everyone feel like they had gotten through something special together.
We were recently at a performance of the one-man show “The Encounter” in Los Angeles when, about a third of the way through the show, a piercing fire alarm went off and everyone froze. An assistant stage manager came out and told both the actor and audience that everyone had to evacuate, followed by 35 minutes of waiting in the street for the fire department to declare it a false alarm.
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After everyone was reseated, the actor briefly apologized, quickly recapped what had happened in the play prior to the alarm, and picked up the performance right where he left off. His ability to maintain such comportment gave everyone the confidence to return to the imaginary world with him and put the interruption behind them. Again, in some way, it made the performance more special, like everyone shared a secret.
Another area that can go wrong during a live performance? Wardrobe. Years ago, Joanne was singing in a club in New York when her off-the-shoulder dress came undone. The audience started nervously laughing and finally, Joanne saw why. She started improvising the rest of her act around the issue and it became a hilarious crowd pleaser.
It’s hard to prepare for the unknown but the big lesson from these examples is that you need to stay centered and think clearly of how best to refocus yourself and your audience. If possible, incorporate the incident into the experience, acknowledge but don’t focus on it too much or let it throw you. Always remember to move forward with full reinvestment back into the performance.
After a brief acknowledgment of what has transpired, perhaps you improvise a line or two to transition from the event back into the world of the performance and recommit to the intentions, objectives, and relationships of the character you’re portraying. If the performer can put it behind them, the audience can too.
So the next time there's an unplanned interruption, costume malfunction, or the set or a prop breaks, stay calm, think creatively, and get back into the performance. Surprises, accidents, and even mistakes can become opportunities for creativity and even enhance a performance!
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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
